Uba Sani accuses former Northwest governors of dining with bandits, terrorists

The Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani has accused some former governors in the Northwest region of compromising the efforts to tackle insecurity in the region.

Sani who didn’t mention names said the ex-governors dined and wined with bandits and terrorists and thus sabotaged the security alliance among states in the region.

The new governor of Kaduna State said this in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. 

“I remember when the Kaduna State Government and some states within the North-West — and even Niger State, they have borders with us — came together to work out a framework to tackle this issue of insecurity.

“We had a joint committee, joint funding, working closely with all the security agencies — the army, the air force and the police.

“But unfortunately, somewhere along the line, the alliance broke down when some state governors decided to start engaging the bandits and the terrorists sitting with them, winning and dining with them, compensating them, negotiating with them,” Sani disclosed.

Proffering solutions to the insecurity problem in the north, Sani said the creation of state police is the only way to end Nigeria’s security challenges. 

Sani who lamented governors’ limited power over security agencies said he is pleased that virtually all governors have now realised the importance of state police.  

He said, “Recall that I was the senator that actually sponsored the creation of state police in the National Assembly. We took the bill up to the level of conference committee when we were working toward amending constitution.

“Of course the Senate agreed and supported my bill for the creation of state police but we had conference committee with the House of Reps. Unfortunately, we lost it at that stage, but I believe there is no way we can resolve or solve the problem of insecurity without the creation of state police.

“When you look at the arrangements of the security in Nigeria, state governors have limited powers in the affairs of security agencies in our country and as a senator we have done a lot in trying to support all the relevant government security agencies but unfortunately we have not achieved a lot because we realised that state governors have limited powers.

“That is the reason we believe we need to create the state police and I was happy just before the election virtually all the state governors in Nigeria came together and agreed that the way forward is the creation of state police.”

Sani further said if the 10th Assembly would revisit the establishment of state police, he would support it even as a governor.